Broken Circle
by SheerBoredom131
Summary: [Set after Bite Club] After an ordinary day, something bad happens to Claire. The only way to save her life is, well... to kill her. As Claire tries to adjust to life as a vampire and deals with the drama caused by her transformation, she has to handle all the aspects of being technically dead, as well as deal with the people who killed her. NOT CLYRNIN. Rated T for one swear word.
1. An Ordinary Day

**Okay, so this fic is slightly AU. Sam is still alive (Presumably Amelie managed to give him some blood before he died of blood loss) and Claire still has a bracelet instead of a pin because, let's face it, it's not like Amelie to give Claire up. Otherwise, it's as accurate as I can make it.**

**[Disclaimer] Morganville Vampires and all characters belong to Rachel Caine. All I own is the plot (and it's not exactly **_**original**_**).**

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**1\. An Ordinary Day…**

Claire woke up at sunrise to her alarm, as usual, and got up feeling refreshed. Unlike usual, she had actually gotten a decent amount of sleep the night before. After dressing in a scruffy tee and worn-out blue jeans, she headed downstairs to make herself some breakfast. Knowing she and Michael were the only early risers in the Glass house, she was surprised to find Eve, bleary eyed, sitting at the kitchen table with her mandatory cup of caffeine.

"You're up early," remarked Claire. "Why?"

"I don't even know how you do this every morning," groaned Eve. "Oliver wants me at Common Grounds at 6:30 to do inventory. Working in a coffee shop sucks, especially when one's boss is a sadistic creature of the night who literally sucks. Blood."

"Wow, you must be tired. That joke was worse than usual." This just got a glare from Eve.

"Whatever," Claire sighed. She had learned a long time ago to stay out of it when Eve was in a Drama Queen mood. Or woke up early. Or both. Claire checked her watch. "If you need to be there by 6:30, you better hurry," she said. "Oliver won't be happy if you're late."

"You're right," Eve sighed. "I better be getting overtime pay for this." She set down her coffee, got up and began lacing up her intricate black leather silver-studded boots. She had added the studs herself. Shane had electroplated the steel with silver, to fend off hungry vamps. Technically, Eve was Neutral, under the protection of the Founder but not the property of a specific vampire like Claire. Still, you could never be too careful in Morganville. Also, they were totally goth, and pretty cool-looking. Claire's hand strayed to her throat, where her small silver cross pendant hung. It had saved her life on more than one occasion. Who ever said fashion and self-defense were mutually exclusive?

Claire was jerked out of her reverie by Eve's yell of "You coming or not? If you help me with inventory, I'll buy you a mocha!"

"Sure thing!" Claire shouted back. "Would Oliver mind?"

"Good question, I'll ask him. But if he says no, you buy your own mocha, 'kay?"

After grabbing a banana to eat on the way, Claire dashed after Eve towards her black-and-silver monstrosity of a car. Of course Eve would drive a hearse. She was Morganville's resident goth, after all. Slipping into the shotgun seat, Claire spotted a new addition to the hearse's decor.

"Is that a disco ball?" Clare inquired in disbelief. "Wouldn't that be a safety hazard? Y'know, flashing lights?"

"Who says it'll be on while I'm driving?" Eve fired back. This brought up a lot of questions as to what Eve would do with the car when she wasn't driving, but she didn't get to ask any.

"So, what are you doing today? Got any tests at school? Crazy experiments with crazier vamp boss?" Eve's perky voice cut through Claire's thoughts.

"Full day of Myrnin. No classes." Claire said. "And he's nowhere near as crazy as he used to be." Compared to when he had Bishop's sickness, ordinary bipolar Myrnin was a walk in the park. Comparatively. Myrnin was still plenty dangerous.

"Still crazy," Eve remarked. Claire didn't argue. They spent the rest of the drive to Common Grounds in companionable silence.

They ended up getting to Common Grounds a couple of minutes ahead of time, so Eve parked the car and walked up to the front door. They were met inside by a slightly rumpled Oliver. He had on his hippie nice-guy outfit today, and he seemed a little annoyed at seeing Claire.

"Coffee shop doesn't open 'till seven," Oliver growled at her

"She's going to help me do inventory," said Eve quickly. "If you don't mind, of course."

Oliver gave a noncommittal grunt. "What did you bribe her with?"

Eve looked a little guilty at that. "A free mocha. How did you know?"

"Easy," Oliver said. "You hate inventory, and Claire wouldn't risk breaking any rules without a bribe. She doesn't like me very much." He smiled grimly. "I have given you both reason to dislike me, though. But enough of that. Inventory, done by seven. Now."

Claire hurried off with Eve to the back room to do inventory, which mainly consisted of making sure there were enough cups and lids and coffee beans to last the day. "I'll still have to pay for a coffee," Claire said when they finished. "Myrnin likes his with a shot of O negative. I generally get him one when we have to do a full day."

"Ugh, I hate mixing vamp drinks. They always ask for a weird mix of blood and coffee."

"Just a mocha, and a coffee with O negative," Claire sighed. "Please label which is which. I don't want to end up drinking Myrnin's by mistake. And I need to get going soon."

"Grumpy much? Cheer up, CB," Eve said, but she made the drinks and set them on the counter. Claire wordlessly slid over two fifty and picked up the drinks. One had "Claire" written on it in sharpie, the other, "Myrnin". The I in Myrnin was dotted with a blood droplet.

Claire raised an eyebrow. "Subtle," she said. Just then, the bell on the door rang and the first customer of the day came in for his caffeine fix. Claire waved goodbye to Eve and headed out to Myrnin's lab.

When Claire opened the trapdoor, she immediately knew it was going to be one of Myrnin's manic days, because Myrnin was rushing around the lab at vampire speeds muttering about quantum mechanics and the physics of plasma fields, along with copious amounts of what Claire thought was cursing in Welsh. As soon as she stepped inside, he stiffened, turned, and vampire-speeded his way over to Claire.

"Claire? Good. I was wondering when you'd get here. Quick, I need your help calibrating the portals. The frequencies are all off, and I don't know why. I believe it might be Frank acting up. I swear, that man has been acting very oddly ever since his son got caught up in that underground fighting ring." When Myrnin got like this, it was best to listen to his monologue and then offer a solution, or at least a plan of action. The only problem was that, while he was quite mad, Myrnin was also far smarter than Claire would ever be, and had probably thought of, and discounted, all the possible solutions she'd find. Still, Claire gave it a shot.

"How about we go down there and ask Frank what's wrong, and if that doesn't work, see what we can do about the frequencies." This, Claire believed, was a very logical course of action. Sometimes, you just had to state an idea calmly and clearly to get it across to Myrnin.

"I already thought of that. He won't talk to me. I figured he might talk to you, considering you're dating his son and have saved his son's life multiple times." As usual, Myrnin made a depressingly logical point.

"So, I should just head down there and have a chat with the crazy steampunk computer, and see what happens?" Claire was skeptical about this plan. "How will I get down there? Humans can't take twelve-foot jumps without spraining an ankle. We really should install a ladder." We meaning Myrnin, but she'd learned long ago that telling Myrnin he should do something triggered a dangerous reaction. He had a very old-fashioned view of apprenticeship.

"I'll get you to the actual machine. You just have to talk to Frank. I'll be there in case things go sour," Myrnin answered. "Now, _go_." When Myrnin ordered you like that, you did what he said. He was definitely in one of his moods today.

Claire set down the two coffees, then she and Myrnin walked over to the trapdoor that led to Frank's cave. Myrnin put his hand on the wood planks, and the locks on the trapdoor clicked open. Myrnin jumped down, then stretched out his arms to Claire.

"Are you coming?" He sounded impatient. With a sigh, Claire dropped down into Myrnin's arms. She stood up.

"We really should install a ladder there. It's not as if anyone breaking in is going to have trouble with a twelve-foot drop."

"Maybe we should," Myrnin said. Claire would have liked to think he actually would, but she knew he would forget about it as soon as something else caught his attention.

"So, what do you want me to ask Frank?" Claire asked.

"Why the portal frequencies are in need of calibration, why he isn't talking to me, what he's doing for entertainment, whatever you feel like asking him," he snapped. Ooh-kay then, Myrnin was losing his temper. Claire got out of there, fast, and walked into Frank's room.

"Hi," she said awkwardly, because starting a conversation with a steampunk vampire computer that was also her boyfriend's dad was never easy. Talk about daddy issues.

"What do you want?" Frank Collins' voice rumbled out of a speaker on the back wall and (creepily) her cell phone. She'd forgotten he did that.

"I want to know why the portals are off-key. You won't tell Myrnin, but I hope you'll tell me, because we need to get them fixed."

Frank sighed. "Truth is, I've been a little off ever since Shane got caught up in that fight club. And there's also the issue of the gangs forming up under my name. I mean, I never used to mind giving a vamp a good beating, but getting vamped can really change your perspective."

"Gangs?" Because this was the first Claire had heard of any gangs using Frank Collins as a rally point, and she was normally pretty in-the-loop about vampire-killing gangs. She shared a house with a vampire. Go figure.

"You haven't heard? They're mostly into beating up vamp lovers. Too slow to catch real vamps. Pathetic. Speaking of which, be careful. That fancy bracelet of yours is pretty much a neon 'beat me up' sign." Frank paused for a second, thinking. Claire used the opportunity to ask a question.

"So, why are you making the portals all wacky?

"I'm not making them wacky. I have a clogged valve or something somewhere." Oh. Claire felt very silly all of a sudden. Even Frank malfunctioned sometimes.

"I'll get Myrnin to fix you. You know I have no clue how you work." Claire turned and walked out, straight into Myrnin. She started, thinking he might be hungry. He _was_ quite pale, and that meant he could be dangerous. But instead he handed her a paper coffee cup.

"I brought you your mocha." Okay, Myrnin was definitely crazier than usual today. He was being too chivalrous. She thanked him, and checked the label. It was her mocha. She wouldn't put it past him to accidentally give her the wrong one.

"Frank says the portals are going weird because he has a valve clogged somewhere," Claire said. "He asked you to fix it. Apparently, not all his problems are caused by trouble in Morganville."

"Oh, bother. Did he specify what was wrong?" Myrnin asked in a surprisingly sane voice.

"No. He just said that he had a valve clogged or something."

"This is going to take a while. Fetch me a mallet and a wrench, quick!"

"Umm, twelve foot jump?" Claire was really tired of repeating that.

"We really should install a ladder there. Very well!" And just like that, he sped off to get the tools to fix Frank. He was definitely weird today.

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**Okay, first fanfic so don't hate! I'm really bad at writing Myrnin and Oliver, so sorry if they seem OOC. Feedback is appreciated!**


	2. Until It Isn't

**[Disclaimer] Morganville Vampires belongs to Rachel Caine**

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**2\. ...Until It Isn't**

By the time Claire and Myrnin finished fixing Frank (a beaker of some strange green liquid had bubbled over and covered a valve) it was nearly full dark out. Myrnin offered to drive her home. She refused politely but very quickly. Myrnin didn't drive very well, to put it mildly. Walking Morganville's streets at night probably had a lower risk of mortality than Myrnin's driving. She called Eve and Michael, but their phones rang to voicemail. Claire couldn't take the portals because Frank was still recalibrating, so she was stuck walking home. At night. In Morganville. Myrnin offered to walk her, and she accepted that particular offer gratefully. At least they wouldn't be bothered by vamps on the way home.

They walked in silence, until they heard drunken cheering and booing coming from the mouth of an alley. It barely covered up the sound of screaming and whimpering. Morganville's number one survival rule was whatever happened, just keep walking. Claire had never liked that particular policy. She turned towards the alley. It was dark, claustrophobic, and generally screamed "bad idea". It was the type of place people disappeared in Morganville. Claire took a step towards the alleyway, and was surprised to see Myrnin doing the same. He noticed her noticing, and raised an eyebrow.

"What? I've never been much for Morganville's 'just keep walking' policy, either," Myrnin said. Claire reached into her backpack, pulled out two stakes, tossed one to Myrnin, and headed into the alley.

"Sounds like drunk humans. We probably won't need the stakes, but we might as well."

It was, after all, drunk humans, and they were, after all, beating up someone. Claire walked into the alley and shouted "Stop!". The humans, TPU jocks from the looks of it, all turned to look at her, and Myrnin, standing behind her. Then, the person they had been beating up on raised his head, and Claire caught a flash of red eyes and fangs. _Vampire_. Too late, she remembered Frank's warning about the vampire-hunting gangs that had formed under his name. How they beat up Protected humans when they couldn't find vamps.

"Hey," slurred one of the jocks. "Brought your own vamp to the party. Wanna join?" Claire could smell the booze from two meters away. This guy was drunk off his ass. Claire was wondering how to respond to that when a voice cut in from over her shoulder.

"As a matter of fact, I am not her vamp, and I want you to release Mr. Ransom. _Now_!" The last part was an order, with the full force of Myrnin's anger behind it. Most people would have scurried to comply, but these jocks were so drunk it was a miracle they were still standing. They just glared at him, until the first jock spoke up again.

"You're the founder's girl, aren't you? Vamp lover. Likes of you are no better than the vamps." He spat on the ground. In the time the jocks were distracted, the vampire- Mr. Ransom, Claire remembered-had been crawling away. He rose unsteadily to his feet and ran off as fast as she could. Good, but now Claire and Myrnin had to get out. Claire backed up, but bumped into a wall of muscle. The smell of cheap booze enveloped her. The jocks had gotten around them. They were trapped.

"Stay awhile. I'm sure we could find a use for you two." The jock behind Claire grabbed her arms. She and Myrnin really needed to get out, _now_. Claire fought, but the jock behind her was strong, if not smart. She couldn't get free, no matter how much she tried.

"Claire?" Myrnin called. "I believe we need to leave now."

"Trying!" A jock came at Myrnin with a baseball bat. He ducked the swing, but another jock caught his arm and held him still for long enough to get clobbered over the head. He collapsed.

"Myrnin!" Claire screamed. Using a reserve of strength she didn't even know she had, Claire broke out of the jock's grip and ran to Myrnin. She knew vampires healed fast. He would be okay in a minute, maybe less. That was still a long time for her, though. She turned and brandished her stake.

"Next person to come near me gets staked!" She really hoped no one would call her bluff. One jock, stupider than the rest, did, though. He came at her with a baseball bat, and she ducked and stabbed him in the leg. He screamed, but more jocks started coming. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Myrnin start to get up.

That was when the switchblade buried itself in her gut.

She thought she screamed. She couldn't really tell. The entire world was a tunnel of pain centering on her stomach, where a white-hot blade of fire was lodged. She caught flashes of a vampire's growl and blood flying, and then someone picked her up, and oh God, it _hurt_, and then she was moving very fast, and there were raised voices, like an argument, and there was a flash of pain in her neck, and the last thing she knew was something coppery trickling down her throat before it all faded to black.


	3. Why Me?

**[Disclaimer] Morganville Vampires belongs to Rachel Caine**

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**3\. Why Me?**

Claire was floating in blackness, when she saw a flash of light. She was speeding away from it. Good. That light, and sound, and sensation, and pain, was too much. She liked this quiet blackness better. Then, a tendril of something red and crystalline reached out from the white. It was so beautiful. She reached out, and it wrapped herself around her, dragging her back towards the light. She struggled at first. She didn't want to go back to that light, with its sounds and sensations and pain, but then she heard a voice calling her name, and she knew that voice, and it was _Shane_, and suddenly she wanted that light, no matter what. She stopped fighting the red tether and let herself be pulled into the light.

Claire woke up dominated by one sensation: hunger. She was burning with it. There was a cool hand on her forehead, and a kind voice in her ear, but she didn't care, because she was so _hungry_. She bucked and thrashed, because she could smell food nearby, and then a bag was in her hand, and it was filled with food. Her fangs snapped down, and she bit into the bag and drank, and it was life itself, condensed into a liquid, and she drank and drank, and-

-Wait. Her _fangs_?

Claire opened her eyes to find herself in the parlor of the Glass house, holding an empty blood bag, with Myrnin, Amelie, Michael, Eve, and Shane staring down at her. Oh God. What had just happened?

Myrnin looked sad, and a bit guilty. Eve looked shocked. Michael looked resigned. Amelie was impassive, as always. And Shane… Shane looked like he wanted to either punch a hole in a wall or cry.

"What happened?" Chaire tried to say, but it came out as a croak. She cleared her throat and tried again. "What happened?"

Myrnin looked uncomfortable, but he responded. "One of the gang members stabbed you in the stomach. By that time, I was recovered enough to get up. I got you out of there and ran to the Glass house as fast as possible. I called Amelie with the portal. You had two choices. It was either let you die, or turn you. I turned you. I made you a vampire."

"No," she whispered. And then a little louder, "no." She couldn't believe it. She was a vampire? No. It couldn't be true. She got up and felt her stomach for a hole. There was nothing there except for smooth skin. "This has to be some sort of nightmare."

"I am afraid it isn't." Amelie spoke quietly, but Claire could hear her perfectly. Now that she could stop and think, she felt different. Quiet, and empty, but she could see and hear so much. She'd never realized how loud a heartbeat could be until she didn't have one anymore. She never would've imagined something like that. The faint smell of blood wafted from the bag in her hand, and she felt her eyes flare with heat. She knew they were turning bright crimson.

"I… I think I need to lie down for a while," Claire said, dropped the blood bag, and ran up to her room. She slammed the door, and was surprised to see it shake. Paint flaked off and drifted to the floor. Oh, right. Vampire strength. She'd have to be careful not to break anything.

Claire collapsed on her bed and started to cry. She realized she was no longer wearing her cross necklace. Silver. Toxic. Right. Her Protection bracelet was gone, too. She wouldn't need it anymore. She was dead. She was a vampire. She cried, and cried, and then a hand touched her lightly on the shoulder.

"Hey," Shane said. He was wearing an old AC/DC T-shirt, and his hair was messy, like he'd just gotten out of bed. He was the best thing she'd seen all day. He sat down on the bed next to her, and she collapsed into his arms and sobbed, and it was just the two of them, and he smelled like barbeque… and then her fangs flicked out and her eyes flared with heat. His neck was _right there_, veins tracing blue patterns under his skin, and she could smell the blood running through them. She jerked away as fast as she could. She was _not_ thinking about biting Shane. No.

"Claire?" he asked, and then his voice faded as he saw her eyes and fangs.

"I-I can't" she stammered out. "It's like, I just thought of you as food. I nearly bit you. I don't think I'm safe to be around."

Shane looked hurt, but he got up and left. While he was walking out the door, he turned and looked her in the eyes.

"Claire?"

"Yes?"

"Tell me when you feel you're safe. I'll be waiting."

After Shane left, Claire collapsed on her bed and cried herself to sleep.


	4. Living (sort of) With It

**[Disclaimer] Morganville Vampires belongs to Rachel Caine**

**4\. Living (Sort Of) With It**

Claire woke up to burning pain in her arm. She opened her eyes and jumped up as fast as she could and realized why. Her arm was _on fire_. She shrieked, dropped to the ground, and rolled over her arm until the flames went out. She then looked to find out why, exactly, she had been on fire. She soon found it. Her curtains had not been fully closed, and a beam of sunlight had hit her arm, searing flesh down to the bone.

"Oh God." It all came rushing back to her again: the alleyway, being stabbed, _drinking blood_. What about school? Was she going to be on house arrest until she could get a trench coat and hat? How was she going to get blood? And what was she going to do about her windows? Claire decided to go downstairs and ask Michael. After all, he'd gone through all this before.

When Claire walked downstairs, arm throbbing, she was not surprised to see Michael sitting at the table drinking coffee (She hoped it was coffee). Becoming a vampire had, surprisingly, made him more of a morning person. He liked to be up at the crack of dawn, even earlier than her. She _was_ surprised, however, to see Sam Glass, Michael's grandfather and another vampire, sitting next to him. The two of them were hunched over coffee, talking. It was like looking at a mirror: Sam and Michael looked almost identical, apart from their hair.

"Claire. I heard." Sam spoke clearly, formally. He looked genuinely sad. "You were killed same way as me. Protecting a vampire. Heroics will get you killed in this town." This raised a whole wealth of questions, but Claire was prevented from asking them when Michael exclaimed

"Claire! Your arm! What happened?"

"I forgot to close the curtains. I think it's healing, though. It hurts less than before." Claire was suddenly overcome with a wave of hunger. "Hungry, though"

"I'll get you some blood," Michael told her, getting up and heading to the kitchen. She flinched a little when Michael said blood. Sam noticed and gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I have no clue what I'm doing," Claire told Sam once Michael had left. "I need help. What am I supposed to do for sun protection? How do I get blood? How do I keep up my education?" Claire was a little panicked.

Sam looked at her, and there was something like pity in his eyes. "The town will provide you with a standard-issue car, as well as a coat and hat. You can head to the blood bank to withdraw blood. You're allowed seven pints a week. You'll be issued an ID card to register your withdrawals. As for your education… you can probably take night classes. You won't be able to make the day ones."

Claire fought to hold back tears. _Night classes_. Might as well not go at all. Her entire life had been ruined by her death. Just then, Michael came back with three mugs of steaming red liquid. Claire stared at hers, not quite sure how to drink it. She raised it to her lips and took a sip. It was good, like everything she'd lost when she turned vampire, in liquid form. The blood tasted like sunlight and warmth and life, and Claire had to fight not to drain her cup there and then. Michael must have seen the fear in her eyes, because he put a hand on her shoulder. It no longer felt cold. She realized with a start that temperature differentials didn't affect her anymore. Room-temperature body. Right. She took another sip of her blood, bracing herself to not be overwhelmed. She would stay in control this time.

The wound on her arm had stopped throbbing. She looked at it to find that there was only a faint pink patch where before, she'd been burned down to the bone. Her skin was chalk-white, but as she drank the blood, it faded to a pale tan, only a couple shades lighter than her usual colouring.

"You can stay in the living room. The curtains are closed. I suggest you grab some homework or something to do until the sun goes down. Take a nap. Wait for Amelie or Myrnin or whoever to get you your sun gear." Michael spoke reasonably. "I have to go teach a guitar lesson. Sam can help you if you need it. Here's his number." With that, Michael handed her a slip of paper, got up, put on his coat and hat, and walked out the door.

Claire pocketed Sam's number and walked up the stairs to her room. The sunbeam was brighter now, and a little longer, but she had no trouble ducking around it to close the curtains. After retrieving her books, she went downstairs, flopped on the couch, and started in on her homework. Not that she'd be handing it in. _Night classes_. She was miserable. The night classes in Morganville were not exactly known for their content. All the advanced classes Amelie had pulled strings to get her into. Gone.

She must've zoned out for a while, but she snapped back to attention when she heard footsteps on the stairs. They sounded louder than usual, and the sharp creak every second step identified them as Eve. Shane always padded along close to the banister. The slow speed also showed she was trying to be sneaky. She looked up, and saw Eve, clearly trying to sneak past her. Noticing her noticing, Eve straightened up and sighed.

"Vampire hearing. Sucks when you want to get out the door quietly," Eve said. "By the way, should I turn on the light? It's dark in there." Claire looked around. It was dim, but bright enough to see the fine print in her textbook.

"What do you mean. It's not dark in here," she said.

"Umm, yes it is. Do you have to flaunt the super vamp-vision? 'Cause I'm turning on the lights." Eve proceeded to release a blinding flash of light, which slowly settled into the room's normal brightness.

"Ow," Claire said eloquently. "That's really bright."

Just then, Claire's cell phone beeped. The caller ID was a pair of vampire bunny slippers. Claire used to think they were hilarious. Suddenly, they didn't seem so funny.

"Yes?" she answered. It came out glum.

"Claire? Good. Get over here. Amelie says that since you cannot attend class because you catch fire every time you go out in the sun, you should help out at the lab. I have been trying to contact you to tell you to come over for the past twenty minutes!"

"How do I get there? You said it yourself: I can't go out in the sun anymore." The last part came out bitter. Claire knew Myrnin had saved her life. It still didn't make her feel any better.

"_The portals!_ Come through the portals! There is one in your house, and one in my lab! Now!" And he hung up.

Claire jumped a little on the last word. After hanging up, she told Eve "Myrnin wants me at his lab. He told me to use the portals." She got up and walked upstairs to Amelie's portal room.

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**Okay, I know that the portals normally come out in the living room, but just ignore that. This fic is AU, right?**


	5. (Un)Life Lessons

**5\. (Un)Life Lessons**

When Claire entered Amelie's portal room, she found how Myrnin had been trying to contact her. There were several rocks, as well as some copper tubing and what looked suspiciously like pieces from an antique clock with notes tied around them lying on the floor across the room. She picked one up.

"Claire! Get over here NOW!" It read, in Myrnin's untidy scrawl.

"You could've just called the first time," she muttered to herself, but she just sighed and opened the portal.

When Claire arrived in Myrnin's lab, she found it unusually clean. Not tidy, but empty. In the dim light, she could see piles of junk in the corners, but the center of the lab was stripped bare. As Claire turned to take it in, she caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. Instinctively, she turned towards it and dropped smoothly into a defensive crouch. Where was Myrnin?

The attack was sudden and unexpected. Claire caught a flash of movement to one side and, startled, jumped. The jump carried her all the way up to the ceiling, and she had to brace her palms against the ceiling to stop herself from smashing into it, face-first. Then she was falling, and she landed in a crouch, and sprang to her feet, ready for the attack.

Wait, what the _heck_ had just happened?

"That was good, for a start." said a voice directly next to her. Claire let out a little shriek, and had to resist the urge to jump, because she did _not_ want a repeat of whatever had just happened. She turned, and was relieved to see it was only Myrnin.

"You scared me."

"That was the point. I was trying to see how you'd react to an unexpected threat. You still think like a human, although your jump height is impressive, for a fledgeling."

"Great. Well, try and remember that I was human, until last night, so excuse me if my role in the predator-prey balance doesn't change immediately."

"That's why you're here. Amelie wants you to learn how to be a vampire, as much as possible, because you are clearly having trouble adjusting to the physical changes." No kidding, if her burnt arm and twelve-foot jump were anything to go by. "Now , I want you to run a lap of this lab as fast as you can. Go!"

She looked at him in startled surprise, but started to take a lap of the lab at a jog.

"Faster!" Myrnin shouted. "You're still running like a human!"

Claire glared at him but did as she was asked. She started to run, then to sprint.

She couldn't say exactly what changed, but suddenly her sprint became… longer. The world seemed to stretch and compress with her speed as she shot forward like a bullet. Within a second, she had covered the distance from one end of the lab to the other, and was skidding around the corner. She took off again, but this time, as she tried to slow down, she stumbled and slammed into the stone wall. Hard.

_That was so fast! _Claire thought to herself. _And I'm not even breathing hard._ Wait. She wasn't just not breathing hard. She wasn't breathing _at all_. This realization brought the truth about her situation crashing down again. She sat down and gasped for a breath, just to make sure she still could. She could breathe normally, she found, but it felt uncomfortable and forced. She forced back another sudden wave of tears. She was done crying over her state. _I can have my pity party later. For now, I need to adjust, _she thought to herself.

"Once you're done having your existential crisis over there, come over and jump down to Frank's cave. Time's a-wasting." Myrnin sounded exasperated.

Claire, feeling miserable and hating herself for it, walked over to where Myrnin was standing. She looked into the hole in the floor that had caused her so much trouble in the past. "I guess we won't be installing that ladder," she joked, but her heart wasn't really in it. She looked down again, steeled herself, and jumped.

Claire fell for a second, then landed catlike in a crouch, which she sprang out of as Myrnin jumped down, landing lightly. She looked around and gaped in amazement. As a human, this area had just been a black tunnel. Seen with vampire vision, shaded in blues and greys, it was entirely different. For one, the room was much larger than she'd thought. Several pillars held up the high ceilings. The walls were about forty feet away from each other, and crammed with shelves. In between the pillars sat the pedestals, each with objects displayed on them, everything from priceless ancient pottery to jewels and gold to rocks and gum wrappers. Empty cages were stacked at the back of the room.

"You keep Frank in your treasure room?" she inquired. "Wait, you keep a treasure room?

"Yes, good eyesight," Myrnin replied. "Most older vampires do. It lets us keep the memories of our pasts."

Claire walked up to the nearest pedestal. There was a jewelry stand on it, and several bracelets and necklaces hung from it. One of the necklaces caught Claire's eye.

"Is that Ada's locket?" she asked him.

"We came here for you to practice jumping, not gawk at the relics of my very long life."

Claire walked over to the trapdoor. She knew the drill by now. She sighed, bent her knees, and jumped. She overshot by a little, but she was getting the hang of moving like this.

For the rest of the day, Myrnin drilled Claire by making her stop, start, run, jump, lift stuff, catch things, and throw them back, all with vampire speed and strength. She didn't even get tired. Advantage of being a vampire, she guessed. There were way too many of those for her to truly hate herself to the core like she had before. Myrnin also told her about the strengths and weaknesses of his bloodline. Apparently, she would be physically weaker than most vampires, but once her mental abilities came in, they'd be unusually strong. By the time Myrnin called it a day, it was full dark outside. She wasn't sure how she knew, but she did.

Myrnin offered to walk her home again, just like last night.

"Wow, déjà vù much?" Claire commented. This felt like a repeat of last night. Hopefully, this particular walk ended better.

"I want you to practice flaring your eyes and flicking down your fangs when you get home, as well as calming down and putting them away. You should be able to control those reflexes as soon as possible."

This, for Claire, was an uncomfortable reminder of why, exactly, she had spent the whole day working with vampire speed and strength. For some reason, she kept trying to forget what had happened. Silly of her. Pretending she wasn't a vampire wouldn't undo it, and it would only put her friends at risk. _From her_. She felt suddenly furious. Why had this happened to her? She hadn't done anything wrong. She had been careful. She had been good. Surely karma should've picked someone else. She hated this, even the speed and strength, because it made her a threat to her friends.

_Heroics get you killed in this town._ Sam Glass's words echoed around the back of her mind. No kidding. She had died saving _a vampire._ She regretted ever setting foot in that alley. She felt her eyes start to flush red and forced the anger back.

"Claire. Are you even listening?" Myrnin's voice snapped her out of her reverie. She looked up to see him staring at her in concern.

"Not really," she snapped. "Just hating my life, undeath, whatever it is that keeps us like this." Sheesh. She hadn't meant for it to come out so venomous. Myrnin raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

They stayed in silence for the rest of the walk home. Twice, they saw humans peek out from behind the shutters of their homes. Once, they slid into an alley to avoid a group of partygoing college students stumbling home. When they reached the Glass house, Myrnin turned to look at Claire. He smiled sadly at her angry look.

"I believe you are home. Your car is in the driveway, the sun gear should be on the front porch. And Claire?"

"Yes?" she responded. She was unable to keep a trace of bitterness out of her voice.

"I am sorry for what happened. I know you never wanted this. But it was either this or letting you die, and I couldn't let that happen. Maybe one day, you will understand. Take tomorrow off." With that, he turned and walked away.

When Claire walked up the steps to the Glass house, she found a large parcel sitting on the porch. It was addressed to her. She grabbed it and picked it up, noting how light it felt. Human Claire would have struggled to pick it up. For Vampire Claire, it was easy. Setting it under one arm, she unlocked the door and walked in. She listened. Two sets of steady, even breathing could be heard coming from the upstairs bedrooms. Eve and Shane were asleep. She wanted to keep it that way. God, it was creepy the way she could tell if they were asleep from the living room.

Claire set the parcel down and carefully slit the seal. She opened it to reveal a long leather coat with a high collar, high leather boots, a wide-brimmed hat, wraparound sunglasses, leather gloves, and a tube of SPF 90. She could tell she was going to look ridiculous, but it was a small price to pay for sun protection. A set of car keys fell out of the pocket of the jacket, along with an ID card. Right. Vampire-standard-issue car. She could see through the tinting now. She would never have to let Myrnin drive again. If only she could've driven last night, all this could've been avoided.

Just then, she heard a key click in the lock on the door. She immediately stiffened, straightened up, and looked to the door in time to see Michael coming in, pocketing the keys. Seeing her, he walked into the living room.

"Got your sun gear?" he asked. She nodded. "You should head out to the blood bank and pick up a pint for emergencies tomorrow," he continued, "now that you've got your card. Get a feel for the car, too. There's a parking shade next door. They should really start keeping night hours."

"I just can't wrap my head around needing _blood_," Claire said.

"It was hard for me too," he replied. "You'll get used to it."

"All I seem to be doing these days is 'getting used to it'."

Michael smiled sympathetically, another thing she was getting a lot of these days. "Tell the lady at the desk you need to make a withdrawal. Show her the card. She should show you the door." He turned to leave.

"Michael?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for helping me out."

"I'd do it for anyone. No one deserves to go through this alone." And with that, he walked upstairs. Claire followed and went to her room. Closing the door, she undressed and slipped under the covers. They stayed cool over her skin. She would no longer warm them up. Suddenly miserable, she practiced flaring her eyes and flicking out her fangs. If she was a vampire, might as well do a good job of it. After a few minutes of this, she lay down and slowly drifted into a deep sleep.

* * *

**Okay, I'm not really good at writing about the details of vampire life.**


	6. This Mess I Made Of Dying

**6\. This Mess I Made of Dying**

When Claire woke up, her curtains were mercifully closed. No severe sunburns for her this morning. She sat up, got dressed and walked downstairs to find Eve sitting at the table, nursing a cup of coffee. She startled when Claire sat down next to her, spilling coffee.

"Jesus, Claire! Warn a girl before you drop in, or at least step on a creaky floorboard so I know you're coming." She got up and dashed to the kitchen to grab a towel to clean up her coffee. She came back with another cup of coffee. It wasn't Claire's usual mug. It was plain white, decorated with a green smiley face. With fangs. Michael had a similar one, but with an orange smiley face. Claire rolled her eyes.

"Are the vampire themed mugs really necessary?" she asked Eve.

"Yes. Now drink your coffee."

Claire drank her coffee. It didn't taste different, and it filled her stomach, but it wasn't _satisfying_, the way the blood was. It wasn't food for her, not anymore. For some reason, this made her sad. Another remnant of her human life, gone.

"Michael says I have to make a withdrawal from the blood bank today," she said. "I'll have to get a sports bottle too." Claire got up to leave.

"You know I hate this," Eve said suddenly. Claire froze and turned around.

"What?"

"Vampires. They just suck, pun intended. Our little house was off the radar, and then you came, and the vamps started noticing us. Now look at us. Only half of us can even say we're _human_ anymore."

"You know just as well as I do that I never wanted this." Claire was angry now. "You know I wish I was still alive. I want it more than anything else. But face it. Me and Michael messed up, got ourselves killed, and now we have fangs and a sun allergy. Neither of us wanted this, but we got it. So deal with it." She felt her fangs slide out, and let the heat rise to her eyes. "Deal with it!" With that, she stormed out of the room. She heard Eve shout at her to wait, but she ignored her.

After an interesting experience putting on her sun gear, she got all her exposed skin covered and rushed out to the car. It was early morning and overcast, so the weak sun didn't burn her too much through her clothes, but it was really uncomfortable, and she was glad when she got into the shade of her car. The vehicle felt… normal. The windows looked lightly tinted, although Claire knew they were blacked out. Not anything fancy, but a nice car. It started well, at least.

Driving out to the blood bank wasn't hard. It wasn't too far away. She parked under the shaded parking and rushed into the building. The lady at the desk looked up from her romance novel and started a little when she saw the sun gear.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Claire Danvers," Claire replied, taking off her hat and sunglasses.. "Student, physics major, or at least I used to be. Here to make a withdrawal." She showed her card.

"Claire? You're the nice one who always volunteered to give blood. Motivating that boyfriend of yours. So you got yourself turned, did you? Congratulations. What happened?" She seemed genuinely interested to hear. Claire didn't oblige her.

"Look, I didn't ask for this. I just want to get it over with. How do I make a withdrawal? And do you know where I could get an opaque sports bottle?"

"We can give you the sports bottle. What type of blood do you want?"

Claire realized she didn't know. She hadn't given it any thought. "Just, a pint of whatever you have the most of," she answered. "I honestly have no clue."

"O positive, the lady said, and walked into an unmarked door on the hallway behind the desk. Claire followed her. The lady opened a fridge, grabbed a blood bottle, and tossed it to Claire. She caught it with vampire speed. The lady reached into a cupboard, brought out a black plastic sports bottle, and tossed it to Claire as well. She then walked to a computer and typed something in.

"There. You're in the system. You can make six more withdrawals this week."

Claire thanked her and walked away. While she was leaving, she heard the lady mutter, "Finally, a vamp with some manners."

"Thank you, but I'd prefer if you just thought of me as Claire. I never asked for this," Claire said politely.

"You were a sweet girl. Shame. How'd it happen?" The lady was actually concerned, but also interested in gossip. Claire decided to humour her.

"Tried to break up a fight with a bunch of TPU jocks. One punk pulled a switchblade. Stabbed me. I don't remember the rest. Next thing I know, I'm a vamp." She figured that didn't break any rules on what she could say. Most humans still didn't know about Myrnin. With that, she walked to the bathroom to pour the blood into her sports bottle. She then put on her sunglasses and hat and walked out to her car.

When she got home, she quickly got out of her car and vampire-speeded her way over to the porch. Her shoulders still felt a little burnt from the morning sun, though. She unlocked the door and felt the house welcome her with a cool draft. It had always liked her and Michael. Speaking of Michael, she could hear him playing guitar in the living room. She walked in to find him sitting on the couch, his guitar cradled in his lap. He looked up when she entered, even though she barely made any noise walking anymore.

"Hey Claire," said Michael. "Back already? I thought you'd take longer. Head out to the university to organize your schedule."

"Doing that after the sun goes down, so I don't have to go in the sun. By the way, do you have tape and a sharpie? I need to label this as mine, so ours don't get mixed up." She held up the blood bottle. For some reason, this made Michael smile.

"What?" she asked.

"It's like a messed up crazy roommate thing, you know, labeling all the food containers? Except instead, we label blood in bottles" This made Claire crack a smile. "I think we qualify as crazy roommates."

"So, what are you doing for the rest of the day?" she inquired.

Just sitting around practicing. You wanna try?" This surprised Claire. Michael was very protective of his guitars. She guessed it came from being trapped in his own house for six months. You couldn't exactly drop by the music shop for a spare string if one broke.

"Sure," she responded, "but I'm warning you: I've never played before."

"That's okay. Shane and Eve are at work, so if you suck, they won't be around to hear it." He said it with a half-smile. She wasn't sure if he was joking or not. Michael could say anything and keep a straight face.

Michael passed her the guitar. She handled it gingerly, as if it might explode if she held it too tight.

"No, hold it comfortably. Cradle it in your lap," Michael said, commanding, but not in a bad way. More like someone who had infinite time and patience. Which, she supposed, he did. He took out his other guitar and showed her how to hold it, then demonstrated a few chords. It was quite difficult, and she found it hard to move from one fingering position to another, but Michael was a very good teacher. By the end of an hour, she could hold the guitar and strum a little. She could even pluck out a few simple songs.

"That was actually really fun," Claire said. Her fingers were sore, but apparently vampires didn't blister.

"You're not half bad at it," Michael said, but something in the corner of the room had caught her eye. There, turned towards the wall, was a piano, lid closed. She had played a little piano when she was younger, and she had never been very good, but she was feeling musical today.

"Do you play piano?" she asked. "I mean, being cooped up in this house for six months, I would've probably taught myself out of boredom."

"No, I had my guitar. You could try it if you wanted. No one's touched it since before I moved in." He seemed curious to see what she'd do. Claire moved over to the piano, lifted the seat on the bench, and found some old sheet music. It was all ridiculously complicated. She took the simplest piece she could find and set it on the music rack. She lifted the dusty lid and played a few scales and arpeggios to warm up. She was a little rusty, but she worked that off by doing a few exercises she normally used to start a lesson, then launched into the piece.

The music wasn't too fast, but it was _complicated. _Within three bars, she was already hopelessly lost. She contemplated giving up, but Michael was watching her, and she was _not_ quitting. She restarted, this time more slowly, getting the notes in order, and playing through each bar individually. When she felt sufficiently ready, she played through the first page. She was still playing at a slower tempo, but she didn't make any massive mistakes, although she winced whenever she stumbled over a note. With vampire hearing, the mistakes were jarringly obvious.

"Okay, you're pretty good. Use it whenever you want. I sure don't." Michael sounded fairly impressed. "To be honest, I wasn't expecting you to be that good. You've never used that piano before. I figured if you played, you'd have played it by now."

"I played when I was younger. I might start up again. I need something to do to relax all day besides listening to lectures." Michael laughed at that, but he stopped when he realized Claire wasn't joking.

"Seriously?" he asked.

"Yeah. Myrnin has some pretty good ideas for possible variations on quantum theory. Anyways, I need to pass time. I'll head out to the university when I don't have to walk around in the sun."

"Okay. By the way, I'm going to practice for a while. If you want to use the piano, you can, but I might distract you." With this, Michael picked up his guitar and resumed his playing, a sweet, haunting melody that brought tears to Claire's eyes.

* * *

**P.S. If you want a Clyrnin fic that's actually half-decent, check out _Guilty_ by becca-lorraine. And Becca, if you're reading this, I love your portrayal of Myrnin. Great job!**


	7. Cleaning Up Said Mess

**[Disclaimer] Morganville Vampires belongs to Rachel Caine.**

**7\. Cleaning Up Aforementioned Mess**

Once it was dark out, Claire got into her car and drove to the university office. She was going to have to change to all night classes. She definitely couldn't make the day ones when she burned even in sun gear. She'd spent the afternoon planning which classes she could take to keep learning as much as possible. On her way into the building, she bumped into Sam Glass, coming out.

"Hey Claire," he said. "I was looking for you. Amelie said to bring you to her to discuss your education."

"I was just coming here to change my classes. I can't exactly make the daytime lessons anymore." A trace of the old bitterness crept back into her voice as she said it.

"Amelie is going to be taking care of that. She wants to see you to see how you're coping. Do you have your car?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I walked. I hoped you could drive us over." Sam sounded a little sheepish. "Of course you'd drive. Walking around at night isn't exactly natural for a Morganville citizen." He should know. Samuel Glass had been born, lived, and died in Morganville, Texas.

"The car's parked over there." Claire started walking over to her car. She could see the figures of students hurrying to get back to their dorms in the distance. To her surprise, she recognized one of those figures. Monica Morrell, the Mayor's little sister, and Queen Bee of the school. B for Bitch, of course. Seeing Claire, Monica stalked over, flanked by her two groupies, Gina and Jennifer. All three of them were model-gorgeous, dressed in the latest styles, and hated Claire's guts. Their relationship had improved to a truce with Claire offering tutoring once in a while on the subjects Monica was _really_ bad in, but they definitely weren't friends.

"Hey Claire," Monica cooed. "Whatcha doing out here after dark?" Her two groupies nodded and agreed. "Oh hi Sam, didn't see you there. Where's Claire going?"

"Nowhere you need to know," Sam replied.

"Ooh, got yourself in trouble, did you?" Monica smirked.

"None of your business. Now, go away." With that, Claire slipped into the driver's seat of her car. Sam climbed into the passenger seat.

"Wait a sec," Monica said. "That's a vampire car."

"So what," Claire shot back.

"How are you driving it? Those windows are tinted out. And where's your fancy bracelet? Unless…" She didn't finish the thought, but a cruel smile spread across her face. Claire felt heat rise to her eyes, and her fangs snapped down, and she looked down to hide them.

"I said, go away!" The last part came out as part shout, part growl. Okay, she definitely sounded like a vamp there.

"So you did join the fang club? Oh, you bet people will hear about this. Don't worry. At least being a vampire will improve your rockbottom social status." With that, Monica stalked away, Gina and Jennifer in tow.

"Oh god, what just happened?" Claire said, and dropped her head into her hands. "She's going to tell everyone."

"It was going to come out at some point. At least being town gossip is better than having your face photoshopped into a tombstone in a newspaper whose entire purpose was to get people to kill vampires." He was, of course, referencing what had happened to Michael. "716 Lot Street."

"What about the Glass house?"

"Amelie will meet you there there. She can take the portal." Oh. That made sense. Claire started the car and pulled out of the parking spot, then started back to the Glass house.

When they pulled up at the front door, it was full dark out. Claire and Sam parked, got out of the car, and walked up to the front door. When she unlocked it, she found Shane sitting in the living room, shooting zombies.

"Hey Claire," he said, but he sounded distant. Come to think of it, he'd been avoiding her the past couple days. "Oh, hi Sam. What are you doing here?"

"Taking Claire to see Amelie. They need to discuss some things about Claire's schedule."

"And Claire needs an escort _in her own house_?"

"No, but I ran into her at the university and accompanied her here." Sam held his head high. "I figured I could say hi to my grandson, as well."

"Well go do it then." He turned back to his video game in dismissal. Claire felt that like a knife to the stomach, but she covered it up and escaped upstairs.

When she entered the secret room, Claire saw Amelie sitting on the couch. She indicated that Claire should join her.

"Hello Claire. It is good to see you are adjusting well."

"Not really, ma'am." Claire was getting tired of the bitter feeling that came up every time she thought about being a vampire.

"Many people turned against their will go quite mad. Some fall into depression, or kill themselves. Most of us had a choice. We had at least some control over what happened to us. It is something we cling to. You do not even have that. Added to that, you hate vampires. You are doing admirably, considering the circumstances."

"I guess so, ma'am." From that perspective, Claire figured she was doing fairly well. "It's a challenge, and I don't like giving up. Ma'am."

"We are having a casual conversation. Dispose of the ma'am. You may call me Amelie."

"Thank you," Claire said. "Anyways, I thought we were going to talk about school. I'm sorry I can't make the advanced classes you got me into. I was going to switch to all night classes. Do you want me to do something else?"

"I would like for you to continue with school, but on a less frequent basis. I will organize for one-on-one night lessons with your professors. You will attend classes once or twice a night. I expect you to attend every class. You will not skip. The rest of your education will be through Myrnin. He will be responsible for teaching you the finer points of physics and alchemy. Your schedule will be in the mailbox tomorrow." Amelie remained impassive, but Claire's heart leapt. One-on-one lessons? They were less frequent than her former classes, but they would be much more intense. She would be learning just as much. _So_ much better than normal night classes.

"Thank you so much. You have no clue how much this means to me." Claire could barely keep the unbridled joy from her voice. _She was still going to be learning!_

"This is not just me being nice. I want you to continue to learn enough to maintain Morganville. I wish for Myrnin to have backup." Oh. This was Amelie preparing her to take Myrnin's role in Morganville in case something happened to him. Claire barely cared. Her education wasn't going to be ruined, far from it. And Myrnin was going to be teaching her physics. She might finally learn how, exactly, the portals worked. And Frank. And so much more. She realized Amelie was looking at her.

"I have business I must attend to. I wish you to be at the elder's council building tomorrow at eight o'clock. You must be introduced to the vampire community. Goodbye." With that, Amelie got up and walked through the portal that appeared on the wall. Claire bounced up, barely controlling her urge to jump, vampire-high, or zip around the room.

In the end, Claire ended up walking with more than a slight bounce in her step. She knew she wasn't moving like a human, but she didn't really care, until Shane walked out of the living room and she nearly crashed into him.

"Hey, Claire." Shane sounded less than enthusiastic. He tried to dart around her, but she blocked him.

"Where are you going?" Claire asked. "Because you've been avoiding me." She wasn't normally this bold, but she was getting tired of Shane skulking around.

Shane started, looking guilty, then covered it up with belligerence.

"So what?" he snapped. "I had good reason. You told me to go away until you had better control of yourself." It was a low blow, and he knew it.

"That didn't mean avoid me perpetually," Claire said, hurt. "This is about me being, you know?" She mimed fangs in the neck.

"Well, obviously!" he half shouted. "First my best friend gets fanged, then my dad, and now you! The vamps took everything I had, and then some! So what am I supposed to do? Lie down and take it? I hate this! I just wish I could just ditch this town!" By the end he was half crying, half shouting.

"Look, I didn't ask for this," Claire said. "I never wanted this, any of it. I wish I could go back to the way things were before. I'd do anything to be human again. But I can't, so I have to learn how to cope, and you're not making it any easier by avoiding me and treating me like a wild animal!" Claire was angry now, but she fought to hold it down. She felt her eyes start to flare red, and tried to fight it down, but then decided not to and looked at Shane. He started and took a step back in surprise and fear.

"Look. I'm a vampire. Accept it. I can't be the same little girl who came to you for protection from Monica. I messed up, and I died for it. The only thing I can do is try to adjust." She glared at him silently, trying to look him in the eyes, but her eyes kept trailing to his neck. To the veins in his neck. Shane got a little pale and reached up to cover them. Claire looked down in embarrassment. She was hungry. She got out of Shane's way and hurried to the kitchen, where she grabbed her labeled sports bottle and the vampire smiley face mug Eve had gotten her. She poured herself a mug of O positive and stuck it in the microwave for a minute.

"Hey," Shane said from behind her. He put his arms around her and leaned his chin on her head. He was warm and solid, and she knew she felt cold to his touch. She leaned back against him. He was so warm, so strong, and his blood smelled so good… she could almost taste it. She shoved these thoughts away and focused instead on how strong his arms were around her, how good it felt to be held.

Just then, the microwave beeped. Claire extricated herself from Shane's embrace and took out her blood. Shane's expression became carefully guarded as he saw the cup. Claire flushed in embarrassment (as much as a hungry vampire could flush) and turned away to drink.

"You know I can't just take this," Shane said. "You being… you know."

"I know," she said. "The vampires have done so much to you, you can't accept me being one of them. But I'm still Claire. I know I'll change, but everyone changes, eventually. I'll still love you no matter what, though. That won't ever change."

"I love you too," Shane said, and as she turned her head to look at him, he kissed her softly on the lips, still stained with blood. It was meant to be a quick kiss, soft and light, but it turned into something slower and deeper. Claire felt the vampire part of her, the predator, long to sink her fangs into his throat and drain him, to let his life fill her, but she pushed those feelings aside and focused on Shane.

After a minute, Shane broke off the kiss "Incentive to get a hold of yourself," he told her with a smile.

"So you'll stop avoiding me now?" Claire asked jokingly.

"Yeah. From what I learned with Michael, I can't let the whole vampire thing get in the way of us," he said. "Plus, I never could stay angry at you."

"Monica saw me driving a vampire car. She knows I'm a vamp. She's going to gossip about it. So you might get insulted, you know? Your position in the human community is going to drop. Like, a lot," Claire said reluctantly.

"Who cares about that?" he said, and kissed her again. She didn't argue.


	8. Weird Is The New Normal

**[Disclaimer] Morganville Vampires belongs to Rachel Caine**

* * *

**8\. Weird Is The New Normal**

After Claire and Shane had gone to bed-separately, because neither of them was ready for that-Claire stared at her ceiling and thought about the day. Overall, she thought she was coping quite well. Personally, she hated everything that was happening to her. She found she couldn't sleep, so she got up and walked downstairs to the living room.

When she got to the piano, she picked out a slow song with a lot of individual notes and a steady bottom line. She sat down, put it on the music rack, and started to softly play the sad, sweet melody. Once again, she stumbled a few times, but she was getting better, and this piece was heart-achingly simple. It was mostly repetition, and the bottom line was four steady, repeating notes, so she couldn't mess up too badly. Still, she worked on it for a while before launching into the full piece. It was soothing, and she let herself be carried away by the cascade of notes.

The next morning, Claire woke up at eight thirty, which was late for her. She no longer had early classes to attend, so might as well sleep in. She got up, dressed in some scruffy clothes and showered, even though she didn't really have to anymore. The hot water still felt good, and it brought her core temperature up, so she wouldn't feel too cold to the touch. When she walked downstairs, she saw Michael sitting at the table, drinking coffee. She sat down next to him.

"So, you're being introduced tonight," he said. He handed her three envelopes. "Eve got the mail on her way to work, since neither of us can really get to the mailbox without tanning." Claire snorted at that.

Claire looked at the envelopes. Two were from Amelie, she could tell by the fancy cream-coloured paper and neat handwriting. The third was plain white, unmarked except for their address and Claire's name. Claire opened Amelie's envelopes first. As she'd expected, they were a summons to a formal meeting in the elder's council building, Founder's Square, for eight o'clock that night, and a revised schedule. She glanced at it and found she was due at Myrnin's lab in an hour. She was very careful opening the third envelope. She didn't know who it was from, so it could be dangerous. When she did, a bunch of notes, handwritten on scraps of paper, spilled out. She picked one up.

"Get deader" it read. She picked up another. "You should've just died. Go get a tan." They kept on coming. Haven't you figured out you're dead yet? Go back to hell. Get a pulse, or stop walking around. Walking dead. Leech. Bloodsucker." There were more, but Claire didn't bother reading them. Each note felt like a punch to the gut. They were all in different handwriting, too. Many people had come together to send her this hate mail collection.

"Jesus," Michael said. "At least there's something simple in a psycho trying to stake you in the heart. This hurts in a whole different way."

"I think being staked would be worse," Claire responded.

"Still, this is plenty bad. You'll have to watch your back when you go out. It's like when I was turned. People thought of us as one of them, and they take the fact that we turned vampire personally." Michael sounded bitter. She recognized that tone. It was the one that she adopted every time she talked about being a vampire. Apparently, the guilt and anger didn't ever really go away.

"I have to be at Myrnin's lab in an hour," Claire said. "And by the way? I think Eve and Shane are getting kinda pissed about the whole bloodsucking thing."

"I don't blame them," Michael said. "Coffee? It helps with the emptiness if you add a dash of blood."

"Yeah," Claire said, and was reminded of how much Eve hated making up vampire drinks. "I'll grab some." With that, she got up and walked into the kitchen, poured herself a cup of coffee, and added about a quarter cup of blood. Michael was right. It was really quite good. The blood made it feel filling, like food used to, and it added a hint of warmth to the flavour.

"You're right, it is good like this," she said, coming out of the kitchen with her mug. "Anyways, Shane is having trouble adjusting his worldview to fit in another vampire he actually likes. His counseling sessions with Dr. Goldman are definitely helping, but it's still hard. And Eve just cracks jokes without letting anyone see what hurts her. It's hard for them."

"No one who grew up in Morganville likes vampires." Michael's face was regretful. "They're not the only ones who hate this."

"I just wish I could be human again. Being dead kinda sucks." Claire sighed and took another sip of her blood-laced coffee. The blood made it taste really good, better than regular coffee.

"Was that a pun? Because if it was, it was awful, but it pretty much sums up our lives in a nutshell." Michael managed to say with a perfectly straight face.

"Unlives. We're dead, remember?" Claire held a straight face for a few seconds after that, then burst out laughing. Michael joined in, and they were both laughing crazily. Apparently, vampires could laugh for several minutes straight without needing air. Perks of not really needing to breathe.

"I'm glad it's reached the point where you can laugh about this," Michael said. "It means you're coping. Not having chosen to turn must've sucked."

"Yeah, but choosing this and regretting it for centuries would still be plenty bad," Claire said. "With no choice, you go through grief and rage for a while, but I think I'm starting to accept it." She held up her mug, showing him the blood-laced coffee, and took a sip. It was sunny out, so she wouldn't be able to go outside for long, even with sun protection. She realized she was starting to think about how to avoid the sun like it was normal. She glanced at her watch.

"I'd better do some homework. I've got advanced biochem tomorrow night, and a full day of Myrnin. I need to get back into the swing of things." With that, she got up and went to her room to get her advanced biochem books.

When she arrived at Myrnin's lab, Claire saw that he was taking the role of teacher very seriously. He had wheeled out a chalkboard, and was wearing an old pair of pince-nez and holding a long baton. Claire blinked twice, rapidly. Myrnin looked like an Edwardian noble who'd dressed as a teacher and then been teleported to modern-day Hawaii. He had on a loud flowered shirt, long grey slacks rolled up to mid-calf, and a maroon velvet jacket with coattails. And his trademark vampire bunny slippers. With the teacher equipment, it was just too much to process. She sat down and sucked in a couple deep, uncomfortable breaths.

"Wow. That is an… interesting outfit," Claire remarked, still a little shell-shocked.

"Why thank you. Now, I understand you are now officially my student. I want you to list all of the alchemical symbols for pewter we covered, with its values and properties. _Now_!" Myrnin was definitely going all-out on the whole "teacher" thing. She moved over to the board and started drawing.

Claire spent the entire day at Myrnin's lab, doing everything from reviewing various sets of alchemical symbols to discussing quantum physics. The hours passed in a blur, and the next thing she knew, she had to leave for Amelie's meeting.

"Shall we take the portal to the council building?" Myrnin inquired suddenly.

"What?" Claire asked.

"You're being introduced tonight. Surely you haven't forgotten? The entire vampire community will be there, and as your sire, I have to be there as well."

"Sire?"

"The one who turned you. Do you even know anything about how vampire bloodlines work? Those who know me will be interested in meeting the newest member of Gwion's bloodline."

"Gwion?" Claire asked.

"_My_ sire. Can you stop repeating what I say? At the time, he was the oldest vampire in the world. I was his apprentice for most of my mortal life and for a century after being turned." Myrnin almost sounded regretful. "He's gone now, but understand the others will expect much from you. He was a very well-known scholar and philosopher. He taught me much of what I know about alchemy. You will be expected to be very smart, because that is what his bloodline is known for."

"Great," Claire sighed. "Just my luck I'm expected to be a genius because one of my vampire relatives was smart."

"You are smart enough. Just be yourself. Be respectful, but act a little removed from the real world. Now, we really should be going." With that, Myrnin walked to the portal, opened it, and set it to the council building. Claire took a deep breath, or what passed for one these days, and stepped through into a janitor's closet. Claire supposed that the portal entrance was better hidden this way, but it would be incredibly awkward if she and Myrnin were caught sneaking out of the closet.

The council building was beautiful, all columns and high ceilings, but Claire had had some bad experiences in this building. She remembered seeing Brandon's body on a pedestal. No one deserved to have that happen to them, not even him. An even worse memory was Bishop's welcome feast, where Bishop had finally declared war against Amelie. This building was just full of bad memories.

Now, though, the main hall was filled with vampires. They all turned towards her when she and Myrnin walked in. Claire knew not to show fear in front of vampires, but she couldn't help feeling a twinge of panic at all those unblinking eyes staring at her. She saw Amelie, in a crisp icy blue suit, standing in the crowd next to Oliver. She also spotted Sam and Michael standing together in a corner. Seeing them, Amelie spoke up.

"Everyone, I would like to introduce you to Claire Danvers, the newest member of our community, of Myrnin of Conwy's bloodline. Claire, these are the members of our community. Please introduce yourselves." With that, Amelie stood back and a vampire woman walked up to Claire.

"Hello Claire. I'm Valerie. Pleased to meet you." She shook Claire's hand and walked away. This brought the start of a stream of vampires calmly walking up to Claire to shake hands and introduce themselves. It was oddly organized, but Claire felt rather overwhelmed. All of these vamps were so _powerful_. She could feel it coming off them in waves. She acted polite, deferent. Her everyday clothes felt shabby compared to the finery of some of the vamps, but the glances they gave her attire were nothing compared to the looks they gave Myrnin's. For once, she was glad he dressed like a madman.

Finally, the vampires had all introduced themselves, and at Amelie's signal, refreshments were passed around. Claire looked at her glass. In it was what appeared to be sparkling white wine, except _pink_. She took a curious sniff. It was champagne, mixed with fresh blood. O negative, she thought. She started a little.

"Is this wine?" she asked Myrnin. "I'm underage!" It was funny how, these days, someone could hand her wine mixed with human blood, and the alcohol would be the part that bothered her.

"When most of these people were born, people drank wine as infants. Observe the toast." Claire looked to Amelie, who seemed to be organizing this entire event. She raised her glass.

"To Claire, the newest member of the Morganville vampires!" Amelie toasted. The other vampires raised their glasses and then sipped. Claire did the same. The wine was incredible. It tasted like sunlight. She set it down after a sip. She didn't know if vampires could get drunk, but she wasn't about to test that one out at a social event. _I'm going to be underage for the rest of my life._ It hit her then, in just how many ways her life was messed up. She was dead, for one. She drank blood in her wine, for another. And she'd still be seventeen when she turned fifty.

After socializing for a couple hours, during which Claire basically just made polite small talk and listened to everyone else gossip, Claire headed out with Michael. She was surprised to find he hadn't driven his car.

"You fall out of the habit of driving everywhere as a vampire. You can't walk around in the day, so you walk at night," Michael responded to her incredulous look. "You were pretty good at that social event, by the way. You weren't visibly overwhelmed. You were just distant, kind of aloof."

"Myrnin told me a little about his bloodline," Claire told him. "Apparently, his sire was the oldest vampire in the world at the time, and his bloodline has a history of being geniuses. That's kind of intimidating. It's a pretty high bar to meet."

"I think you meet it already," Michael said. Claire gave him a sidelong glance. "I mean, you're a genius."

"Not at that level. I guess I'll just have to work harder." Not that she minded. Claire had always loved a challenge.

Right then, Claire's phone beeped. She opened it up. It was a call from Shane. She answered.

"Hello?"

"Have you seen Eve?" Shane sounded panicked. "Because she's not back yet, and her shift ended hours ago." Beside Claire, Michael stiffened.

"Shane, get the car ready. We need to search for her." Michael's voice was a low growl. His eyes were red and his fangs were fully down. Claire let hers slide down and her eyes flare red in response.

"Can't. My car's at Rad's."

Just then, Michael's phone rang. The caller ID showed Eve.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hey, vamp. We got your girlfriend. German's. Come get her, if you want her." Claire heard the answering voice over the line, clear as day. It was rough and slurred, as if the caller was drunk. It was also vaguely familiar. Michael stiffened to bolt, but Claire's hand shot out, vampire-fast, to clamp around his wrist.

"I remember that voice. That's a vampire killing group. You can't just rush in there. You'll get yourself killed." Claire tried to sound reasonable. Thanks to Myrnin, she had a lot of practice.

"How did you… oh. That was the same group that killed you? But they beat up vamp lovers! They killed you! I have to get to her!" Michael was really panicked now. He jerked against her arm with his full strength, but she was almost as strong as he was now. He only managed to drag her a foot or two.

"Look, how about we run home, grab Shane, and drive over? There will be a lot of them. They'll be ready for you. Shane's one of our best fighters. We need him. Plus, Eve is bait. They won't hurt her. Might as well get prepared so we can actually win this fight."

"You are way too reasonable, you know that?" With that, Michael took off, full speed, towards the Glass house.


	9. Rescue, Vampire Style

**[Disclaimer] Morganville Vampires belongs to Rachel Caine**

* * *

**9\. Rescue, Vampire Style**

Claire was caught flat-footed for a second before she burst after Michael. With a great effort, she managed to pull beside him. They sped along the dark streets of Morganville, and within a few minutes, they were pulling up outside the Glass house. Michael took the stairs five at a time and hammered on the door.

"Shane!" he bellowed. Being a vampire, he wasn't out of breath, and the shout practically shook the door off its hinges. "Get the car ready!" Claire heard footsteps pounding, then Shane slid back the deadbolts and opened the door. Michael darted in, then returned a second later with a set of keys. He sped over to the car, and by the time Claire and Shane got there, the car was idling. They had barely gotten into the car before it pulled out of the driveway, tires screaming.

"So, is Michael going crazy?" Shane shouted over the sound of squealing leather.

"No. he's just scared for Eve. He really likes her, you know," Claire shouted back. "I had to convince him not to rush off all by himself."

"Where are we going?" Shane asked.

"German's!"

"Figures. I hate the place!"

"Same!" shouted Claire. "So, what's the game plan?"

"I go in," Michael said from the front. "You and Shane be backup. Make sure I don't get jumped from behind."

"That's… not really a good plan," Shane said.

"Slight problem?" Claire objected. "You and I can see just fine, but Shane will be blind in there." Michael just grunted and continued focusing on leaving as many skid marks on the road as possible.

"Hopefully, the gang members will have some sort of lighting there. They're human, right? Plus, you can see in the dark. I can follow you, if it comes to that." For once, Shane was making sense. Fighting was his specialty. Just then, Michael pulled the car over and jumped out. Claire and Shane followed. The night was a wash of blues, purples, and greys. All other colours were muted. The sky was velvet black, sprinkled with countless diamonds in a rainbow of hues. Nighttime was beautiful with vampire vision. German's tire plant loomed in front of them, abandoned and menacing.

"Can you see?" asked Shane beside her. "Because I can barely make out the tire plant."

"It's clear as day," Claire responded. "Put your hand on my arm. I'll guide you."

"We should go in," said Michael. "Follow me." With that, he sped off into the building. Claire followed, but slower, so that Shane could keep up. They reached the steps of the building, and Claire had to slow down in order to let Shane climb the steps blind. Just then, a scream of rage came from the inside of the building, along with a spray of gunfire. Without even thinking about it, Claire grabbed Shane, cradled him in her arms, and ran full speed into the tire plant.

The fight wasn't hard to locate. There was a faint glow coming from (of course) the doorway with the creepy clown head, and the sounds of shouting and screaming were coming from there. Without hesitation, Claire dashed through the doorway, and into one of the craziest fights she'd ever seen.

There must've been thirty drunk men in the room. They'd built a small bonfire in the center of the room, and it was providing the light they had seen from the main room. Michael was standing over Eve next to the bonfire. There were bullet holes in his shirt, and her leg was twisted at an odd angle. Claire set Shane down, who immediately assumed a ready stance.

"Michael!" Claire shouted. "Get Eve out of here! We'll cover you!" Michael shot her a grateful glance before picking Eve up in his arms and limping off. He was hurt. There must've been a lot of bullets in him. Shane darted out to pull one of the drunks off of Michael, and the crowd turned on him, buying Michael time to escape with Eve. Claire caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye, and spotted a pair of jocks trying to block the doorway. She flashed over, grabbed one by the shoulders, and threw him into his partner. They both went flying and crashed into the wall ten feet away. She saw Michael stagger out of the door and looked to Shane.

Shane wasn't doing to well. As she watched, the man he was fighting threw him to the floor. She saw the guy pull a knife.

"No!" she shouted, as she saw the knife come down.

Shane twisted to the side and the knife sank into his side, just under his ribcage. Claire exploded over, faster than she'd ever moved before, and tossed the guy off Shane. He flew the full length of the room before crashing into the wall with a sickening thud, but she wasn't paying attention. All her attention was focused on Shane, and the wound in his side. She knelt next to him and cupped her hand behind his head.

"Shane?" she asked softly. He just groaned.

"Vamp. You should've died when we stabbed you," came a drunken slur from behind her. It was one of the jocks who'd killed her, but that didn't matter right now. All that mattered was that his friend had hurt Shane. She looked up, eyes glowing red and fangs fully extended, and _snarled_. She must've looked vicious, because the jocks fell back a step. All she wanted was to tear these idiots' throats out and make them pay for hurting Shane. The guy with the gun raised it and shot at Claire. She felt something hit her chest, and then a brief flare of pain, but it only made her angrier. She snarled again and tensed to throw herself at these drunk idiots.

"Claire." The sound of Shane's voice snapped her out of her rage. She turned to look at him, and her eyes focused on the wound in his side. There was so much blood, and it smelled so sweet and heady and _Shane_ that she had to catch herself to stop herself from bending down and biting him. He was hurt, badly. He needed medical attention, soon. She picked him up and he wrapped his arms weakly around her neck. After giving the drunks one last snarl, she sped out of the room.


	10. Making Choices

**[Disclaimer] Morganville Vampires belongs to Rachel Caine**

**10\. Making Choices**

When Claire ran outside, Michael's car wasn't there. He'd probably sped off with Eve to tend to her injuries. Claire didn't care. She took off, full speed, for the hospital. The bullet wound in her side had settled to a low throb. Shane was still cradled in her arms, only now she could smell his blood getting on her, and it smelled _so good_. She focused on running faster.

Within four minutes of running full speed, Claire reached the hospital doors and burst through into the fluorescent lighting. She stopped in front of the desk, where a surprised looking lady was staring at her, eyes wide. She knew her eyes were red and her fangs were out, and she struggled to fold them up and calm down.

"I need help with him," Claire said, showing her Shane. The lady immediately became all business, ushering her into a surgery room, where she told Claire to set Shane down on a table. Claire gratefully obliged, then got out of there as fast as she could. She wasn't sure how much longer she could go without hurting Shane. When she walked out of the surgery room, she picked up her phone and called Michael. He picked up on the first ring.

"Claire? Are you okay? I'm sorry I had to leave. Eve was bleeding and I had to get out of there fast before I did something I'd regret." He sounded a little panicked.

"I'm okay. I got shot, but it doesn't really hurt too much. Shane's worse off, though. He got stabbed," Claire said, walking to the bathroom. "Can you come over to the hospital and bring a fresh set of clothes? I ran Shane over here and my clothes are really bloody."

"On it," he said. "We're coming. Hold on. Meet you in the waiting room." He hung up. Claire sighed and sank against the sink. She turned on the tap and viciously scrubbed at the blood covering her hands and shirt. Walking out into the waiting room, she saw a black vampire standard-issue car park outside and Michael and Eve jumped out. She rushed out to meet them. Michael wordlessly handed her a bag of clothes and she hurried to the bathroom to clean up again and change.

When she came out, free of all traces of Shane's blood she could find, she sat down next to Michael. She could see Eve had cleaned up, but Claire could still smell a faint trace of blood coming from her.

"So, what happened?" Eve asked. "Y'know, after we bugged out on you two because, c'mon, you were taking ages, and Michael was about to go full vamp on me."

"Shane got stabbed, I got shot, and I had to run him to the hospital. He's in surgery," Claire deadpanned. She really didn't feel like talking.

"God, I'm so sorry for leaving," Eve gushed. "Is he okay? Wait, you got shot! Are _you_ okay?" She sounded panicked.

"It doesn't really hurt much," Claire said. "I don't think bullets really bother vampires much."

"The bullet will have popped out when you healed, probably sometime when you were running here," Michael told her. "Also, you're pale. Like, _really_ pale. Vampire pale. Marble pale. You should ask if they have any extra blood."

"Ooh-kay, leaving conversation _now_," Eve said. "This is reaching vampire levels of weird." Michael just sighed.

"Eve, these are everyday problems for us," Michael said. "Plus, I thought you'd gotten used to the idea of me drinking blood."

"Yeah, you," Eve shot back. "Not _her_."

"Guys, can you please calm down?" Claire asked. "Michael's right. I am… hungry, I guess. Better a bag of blood than you or Shane. You're going to have to get used to it." With that, she got up, and went to ask the lady at the desk if she had a spare bag of blood.

Once she'd gotten her blood and drank it in the bathroom, Claire came back into the waiting room feeling much better. Her mood faded when she saw Amelie standing in the waiting room.

"Claire?" Amelie asked. "It is good to see you. I heard about Shane. Congratulations on your self-control. Most fledgelings can't even bear to be in the same room as a wounded human, much less carry one to a hospital while wounded herself."

"Thank you," Claire said. "But it was Shane. That definitely helped with my self-control." She fought to keep her worry for Shane out of her voice.

"Shane is why I am here. He is very badly injured. The doctors say he probably won't make it. I know how important he is to you. In thanks for all you have done, I am willing to make him a vampire to save his life."

Claire was shocked, both by the fact that Shane was _dying_ and that Amelie would turn him, despite everything Shane had done in the past. Michael and Eve had identical expressions of shock on their faces.

"I… I don't really know," Claire stammered. She knew Shane valued his humanity, and she didn't want him to have to go through what she'd gone through, but she also knew he wouldn't have wanted to die, and _she_ didn't want him to die, and even if he stayed human, she would have to watch him die anyways, when he was old and she was still frozen in time as a teenager. Still, she wasn't sure if he'd be able to survive as a vampire. Could she commit him to a life as the thing he hated the most?

"Can you wait to see what chance he has at survival?" Claire's voice was steadier than she'd expected, but she could still hear a tremor pass through it. "He hates vampires. If it's possible he might survive," Claire's voice caught on the last word, "he should have the chance to stay human."

"Very well," Amelie said calmly. Just then, a doctor came out of the hallway from the direction of the surgery.

"Ma'am," the doctor said, bowing her head to Amelie. Then, she addressed Claire. "He's not doing well. He's slipping in and out of consciousness. He lost a lot of blood and there's some nasty internal damage. He's got a fifty/fifty chance of survival."

"Can I- Can I see him?" Claire's voice broke.

"That may not be the wisest idea," Amelie said from behind her.

"If I can run him here with him bleeding all over me and not lose control, I think I can stand in the same room as him for a couple minutes," Claire responded. "I want to see him in case…" She didn't finish.

"Very well. You may see him." Amelie's voice was cool and calm, completely indifferent to Claire's emotional turmoil. The doctor gestured for them to follow her into the surgery area.

Shane didn't look very good at all. He was very pale and very still in the hospital gown. He was hooked up to a bunch of machines and an IV blood transfusion, but Claire didn't need to see the readings to know he was in bad shape. She could hear his weak heartbeat, smell the chemicals and the drugs they had him on, but more than that, she had an instinctive urge to attack while her prey was weak, incapacitated. She understood now why vampires couldn't be around the wounded. If her self-control slipped for even a second, she'd attack Shane, and that would kill him.

"Shane," she said softly. He was too pale, too still. She wasn't expecting him to respond, but his eyelids flickered and he turned his head sideways slightly, as if he was trying to look at her. She remembered how when she was dying, Shane's voice had brought her back. Admittedly, she had come back as a vampire, but he had given her the will to keep living.

"Shane, it's me, Claire. Come back, Shane. I love you, Shane." She said his name as many times as she could because she remembered how hard it had been to recognize other words when she was injured. She walked over and took his hand. This was testing her self control severely, but she felt Shane's hand move against hers and heard his pulse beat a little stronger. She continued speaking, saying his name, telling him she loved him, that she was here, asking him to come back. After what seemed like an eternity, Shane's eyes flickered open and she heard his weak pulse stabilize.

"Hey," he said weakly, more of a whispering breath, but she could hear him perfectly. Vampire hearing definitely had some advantages. "Claire?" Seeing him like this nearly broke her heart.

"It's me. I'm here. Stay with me, Shane." She could see technicians rushing around her out of the corners of her eyes, but her attention was riveted on his prone form. "Keep looking at me. Don't go back to sleep. Stay with me."

"Where am I?" he asked, and she could see the fear in his eyes as he noticed his surroundings.

"You're in the hospital," Claire said. "Don't go. Please don't leave me." Her voice faltered on the last part, and she could feel tears building in her eyes and spilling over onto her cheeks. Shane tried to shift his weight and winced.

"You know, I don't think I'm going anywhere. What happened?" he asked, and smiled, and Claire started laughing and crying because she knew that if he was cracking jokes, he would be okay.

The next hour was a blur as she sat next to Shane, talking softly to him while the doctors hooked him up to new machines and gave him medicines. Sometime, Claire wasn't sure when, Amelie left. Then, the doctors told her Shane was stable and they would be starting surgery, so she should probably leave. She obliged, torn between wanting to stay at Shane's side and the need to get away from him to avoid hurting him. When she stepped into the waiting room, Eve and Michael stood up.

"Will he be okay?" Michael asked calmly, but she could see the fear in his eyes. "You were gone for a while."

"He'll live. He's in surgery now." Unspoken in that was the fact that Shane was still human, not a vampire like Claire and Michael.

"Thank god," Eve said, and Claire could hear the deep-seated relief in her voice. "Being the only human in a house full of vampires would suck."

"We really need to find another word to use instead of suck," Claire said. "The puns are just too easy." Michael smiled, then Eve giggled, and then they were all laughing from sheer relief at being alive, (or sort of alive) and Claire decided that maybe things were all right after all.


	11. Epilogue

**[Disclaimer] Morganville Vampires belongs to Rachel Caine**

* * *

**11\. Epilogue**

When Shane got out of surgery the following night, Claire had advanced biochem and was unable to pick him up from the hospital, but she hurried home in time to catch him propped up on the couch, playing a video game. It wasn't his usual zombie-killing game. It was some sort of driving game where he was crashing into mailboxes, running red lights, and causing general mayhem.

"Hey," she said, sitting down next to him on the couch. "Are you okay?"

"Bored out of my mind, he answered promptly. "Dr. Goldman says I'm not allowed to play FPS games until I get my anger management under control, so I'm stuck playing Grand Theft Auto. Wanna join?"

"Sure. You're driving worse than Myrnin, by the way. I don't think he's ever managed to knock over _three_ mailboxes in a row."

"Spoilsport. Grab a controller and start playing. I want to see _you_ drive." He smiled at her. She swatted at him, then got up to grab a controller to his cry of "Wounded!"

"Oh no, not this again," she muttered, just loud enough for Shane to hear, and sat next to him on the couch, booting up the game. She could smell the blood under his skin, but she ignored it and focused on not crashing her car on-screen. She followed every rule and law she knew about driving just to spite Shane, and he laughed at her.

They fell asleep next to one another on the couch, and as Claire curled up against him, she breathed in his scent. He smelled like smoke and spices and blood, and Claire accepted that. There would always be a part of her that would be predatory now. _Everyone changes_, she thought to herself. _I just changed more than most people._ With that, she let herself relax against Shane, and smiled, perfectly at peace with herself. Within a few minutes, she was soundly asleep.

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**That's it! Hope you enjoyed this fic! Please drop a review so my next fics will be better!**


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